Maintaining stability has become a hot topic for Chinese society. It is of concern to all Chinese people whether China can maintain its national stability and ensure it remains sustainable at a time when various thoughts and opinions are emerging.

Recently, Chinese authorities have taken measures to stop a very small number of people defending "street politics" in several cities, an action supported by the majority of the public.

On the other hand, in view of its size and speed of evolution, Chinese society has enhanced its tolerance for these few trouble-makers, which is also important for the stability of the country.

"Absolute stability" should not be the target of stability maintenance. "Absolute peace" is as worrying as "chaos" because the former indicates that something is being hidden or suppressed and will one day break forth.

We do not mean to advocate "street politics," but that the prevention and control of "street politics" should become an element of social life outside popular concern.

China's long-term stability fundamentally depends on the continuous improvement of people's livelihoods and the country's comprehensive strength. However, a country's stability not only depends on an "incident-free" state each day, but on people's feelings and comments on this state of being.

China's current state may be the most stable in the world. Several people took a gesture of political confrontation on the street akin to "performance art," but this remains a mere episode, as long as we do not set a "zero tolerance" goal.

The government and society should have the confidence to know that the occasional spot of "trouble" is not of concern since the trouble-makers will not obtain majority support.

We should even have the confidence to know that, for various reasons, even if some people took part in these illegal political gatherings, it would still be nothing serious. Compared with China's huge population supporting stability and the nation's continuous progress, it immediately becomes in-significant.

If Chinese society can gain such psychological endurance, unstable factors will melt away. Those who want to challenge the social order will feel isolated.

For a big country like China, it is not always easy to maintain stability. However, we also believe that it may be more difficult to mess with the social order. We should accept the fact that not all people will praise the authorities, and we do not need to show that there are no opponents in China.

But it is a hard fact that most people in China support the government. That is why the recent disturbances involved so few people. From such an understanding, China is seen as a country with more stabilizing factors. All countries have the risk of becoming "unstable," but China will not top the list.